Posted
by
Hemos
on Thursday June 17, 2004 @05:34PM
from the preseving-our-past dept.

loid_void writes "Reutersis is reporting that a giant Apollo moon rocket that never got off the ground is about to get a face-lift after years of rusting away in the Texas heat and humidity at the Johnson Space Center.
Workers will construct a shelter for the Saturn V rocket and give it the equivalent of a "blow dry" in the first steps to preserve the relic of NASA's golden age, said Allan Needell, Apollo program curator for the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum.
The 363-foot-long behemoth has lain on its side in front of JSC since 1977, a favorite sight of tourists, but also a victim of the elements.
Instead of launching astronauts to the moon as it was built to do, it has become a slowly fading hulk of peeling paint and corroded metal where birds live and plants sprout, Needell said on Wednesday during a visit to the rocket.
"There's a lot of biology growing on there," he said, pointing out streaks of algae staining the rocket's white skin."

It's not too optimistic at all, it just won't be done by NASA. Everyone who has seen Star Trek knows we will have to have a 3rd world war first, and then a drunken scientist resembling James Cromwell will invent warp drive in an alcoholic haze. Then of course, Starfleet will be borne, and we will all want to shag either that vulcan girl and that hot african communications lady.

No, we didn't. Some people thought it would be a cool prank to spend billions of US dollars to set up a sound stage in Nevada and fake it. They hint at this during Diamonds Are Forever and other sources.

Hey, I just developed that zero-friction oil you mentioned. It must be worth billions, but the government here in Nigeria won't let me release it to the outside world. Tell you what... just send me $10,000 to help smuggle me out and I'll split the proceeds of my invention with you 50/50.